Tony Harrison: The Labourers of Herakles

Allusion to Classical figure Herakles; Nessus; Phrynicos; Themistokles; Agamemnon; Cassandra; Clytemnestra

Relationship to Classical text At the beginning of the play a labourer sings from the sole surviving fragment of Phrynichos’ Herakles tetralogy (from his Alcestis) and, later, fragments of his other plays are sung, with particular attention paid to The Fall of Miletos. There are also references to Aeschylus’ Agamemnon.

Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts The fragmentary works of Phrynichos are quoted in the original Greek, without translation.

Classical/post-Classical intertexts Herakles’ madness is liked to the torment of European conscience in the wake of Bosnian genocide. The labourers quote a section of Servius’ commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid IV, 694, which contains a reference to Phrynichos’ Alcestis (‘gladium ferentem...quo crinem Alcesti / abscidat.. .’, p.135 in the text of Harrison’s play).

Comment Late in the play the chorus of labourers question their relationship to the audience of passive onlookers, reminding them of the political connotations of theatre, ancient and modern, as a projection of public conscience.

Note First performed, 23 August 1995, on an excavated site which was intended for the New Theatre of the European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Greece. This was a co-production between the European Cultural Centre of Delphi and The Royal National Theatre Studio, London.
Collected in Tony Harrison Plays 3, Faber, 1996.